Self-playing musical instrument.



J. J WALKER. SELF PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 24,1905. May 30 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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J. J. WALKER. SELF PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 24, 1905.

993,479. Patented May 30, 1911.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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J. J. WALKER.

SELF PLAYING-MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 24, 1905. 993,479. Patented May 30, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

JAMES JOHN WALKER, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

SELF-PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES JOHN WALKER, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at N o. 27 Francis street Tottenham Court Road,London, England, have invented a new or Improved Self-Playing MusicalInstrument; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a new or improved self-playing musicalinstrument and has for its object to provide an instrument which willexactly reproduce automatically manipulations of the keys and levers ofa musical instrument.

According to the present invention an instrument is provided which, incombination with a record tune sheet having generally one or morecomplementary perforations for each of the note perforations thereof(such a record for example as that forming the subject of a separateapplication for Letters Patent S. N. 331910 filed August 24Eth 1906) iscapable of producing in a practically exact manner such a performance ashas been above indicated and of automati cally synthesizing the variouselements or components appearing on the said record and causing theresult to be audibly and automatically reproduced upon an instrumentsimilar to that on which the music was originally played.

According to this invention each key, expression or swell lever, orother operating device, in an automatic music reproducing instrument, isprovided with means for producing one or more variations in power duringthe operation of such key, expression or swell lever or other operatingdevice, the effects produced or controlled by which are dependent uponthe speed at which suchkeys or devices are operated. One convenient wayof carrying out this portion of the invention consists in connecting twoor more motor devices to each such key or controlling device. If twomotors be used then Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 24, 1905.

Patented May 30, 1911.

Serial No. 275,611.

each of the two motors controlling a key or other lever or operatingdevice has a separate connection to the tracker board and is thereforeindependently controlled. The record sheet possesses in this case twoperforations for each note the ordinary or relatively non-variable oneof which may be termed the note perforation and the other relativelyvariable one the complementary perforation as described in thespecification of my above-named separate application.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a plan of part of a perforatedor slotted sheet or band adapted for effecting the control of oneconstruction of the improved reproducer when the latter is constructedfor pneumatic control or operation. Fig. 2 is a plan of part of aperforated sheet or band having perforations or slots for controllingsay a pneumatically operated organ swell. Fig. 8 is a sectional view ofthe improved reproducing mechanism applied to say a piano, of whichlatter only a portion of one of the keys is shown. Fig. 1 is aperspective view of portion of a tracker board having ports. Fig. 5 is afront elevation, partly broken away, of a mechanism for reproducing therecorded movements upon, say, an organ swell. Fig. 6 is a verticalsection on the line 66 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a sectional "iew of avmodification of the apparatus shown in Fig. and Fig. 8 is a plan of partof a perforated sheet or band for effecting the control of the apparatusshown in Fig. 7.

For reproducing music recorded as shown in Fig. 1, which recordcomprises a row I of note-slots and a row marked 11 of what may betermed complementary slots, as explained in the specification filed inthe before-mentioned separate application for Letters Patent, theimproved reproducer (which may form part of a musical instrument orwhich may form part of a piano player) shown in Fig. 3, is employed.This reproducer comprises two sets of pneumatics, one of each principalset 102 and one of each complementary set 103 being seen in Fig. 3.These two pneumatics 102 and 103 are both operatively connected with oneand the same sticker 101, the latter operating for instance one of thekeys 105 of the piano. Similarly the remainder of the keys are connectedto two such pneumatics and the operation of each of these motors 102,103 is conveniently controlled by a separate electric or pneumaticcircuit, the making and breaking of which is, in turn, controlled by thebefore-mentioned perforated record sheet a. A convenient way ofcontrolling the motors is to provide a tracker board 106 with a seriesof electric contacts or readers, as for instance 107, 108-, 107, 108 inFig. 3, those marked. 107 in line with the rows marked I of theperforations shown in the record sheet, being for controlling theoperation of the motor 102, the others, indicated by the number 108which are in line with the rows marked 11 of perforations, being forcontrolling the operation of the second motor 103. YVhenever a slotcomesbeneath a reader 10?, 108 the latter is permitted to make electricalcontact with the conductor 109 laid along the tracker board 106 andconnected to one pole of a battery 110, each reader 107 and 108 beingconnected respectively through the winding of a magnet 111 and 112 tothe opposite pole of the battery 110. These magnets 111 and 112 maycontrol the operation of the motors 102 and 103 respectively as follows:The chamber 113 is exhausted during the operation of the reproducer bypower, or, as shown, by a foot operated bellows 114-, which, upon beingdepressed, forces the air which it contains out through the valve 115,the valve 116 meanwhile automatically closing the duct 117 leading tothe chamber 113. The spring 181 then reexpands the bellows 111, when thepressure of the atmosphere closes the valve 115 and exhaustion of thechamber 113 takes place by way of the duct 117 and valve 116. Subsidiarychests 11S communicate with the chamber 113 by way of ports 119, whichare automatically closed by valves 120, upon the stem 121 of each ofwhich is a second valve 122 which, when the valve stem is raised to openthe port 110 closes a port 123 leading to the atmosphere. Armatures121.are fixed upon the stems 121 for raising them in their guides 125 tooperate the valves as described. When the magnets 111, 112 aredeenergized, as they are under normal conditions, the valves 120, 122are in the positions shown in Fig. 3, 1'. 0., the chests 113 are open tothe atmosphere by way of ports 123 and are closed to the vacuum chamber113. The pneumatics 102, 103 which communicate with their respectivechambers 118, 118 by ducts 126 can thus receive air and be maintained inthe expanded condition by means of their springs 127, 128. \Vhen howevereither of the magnets 111, 112 is energized,

its armature 124 is attracted, thereby raising the stem 121 to whichsuch armature is fixed, and, by the lifting of the cor1.'es )ondingvalve 122, closing the era-responding port 123 to the atmosphere, and,by the l fting of the corresponding valve 120 opening the correspondingport 119 to the vacuum chamber 113. The particular pneumatic 102 or 103is thus exhausted by way of its duct 126 and will impart a downwardmotion to the sticker 10st and therefore to the key or lever 105connected therewith. W'hen, according to this invention, the pneumatic102 is working alone, the pneumatic 103 is acting as a retarder, thesaid pneumatic 103 continuing to act in this capacity until such momentas its valves are actuated to cause it to operate as an accelerator. hena slot passes away from beneath its reader, thev electric circuit isbroken and the corresponding motor ceases to operate.

The pneumatic 102 is connected to the sticker 10 1 by means of an arm131 taking over the sticker 104 and engaging between adjustable buttons132, 132 on the sticker 10 1. The pneumatic 103 preferably projects outbeyond, and is larger than, the pneumatic 102, and the sticker 10stpasses through a hole 133 in the base 134, a diaphragm 13:) preventingingress of air at that part. The sticker also passes through a hole 130in the upper board 137 of the pneumatic or hel lows 103 and adjustablebuttons 133, 133 on the sticker 10 1 are caused to bear on either sideof a diaphragm 139 fitted over the hole 136. As hereinbefore stated. theslots in the rows marked I on the record strip (.1 control motors suchas 102, and the slots in the rows marked 11 control motors such as 103;it will be easily understood therefore that the speed of depression ofthe keys 105, and therefore the character of the note sounded, willdepend upon the interval between the commencement of collapse of the twopneumatics 102 and 103. When, therefore, one of the before-mentionednote or tune perforations of a row I, is presented to its respectiveelectric contact, or registers with its respective port, in a piano orother reprooucer, an electric or pneumatic impulse is transmitted, whichcauses the respective motor to actuate the sounding device appertainingto the particular circuit completed. If the note or tone to be soundedby this operation be a loud one, represented by the slots orperforations Z), c, Fig. 1, then, as the forward ends of these slots arecut abreast, or nearly so, of one another, the motors 102 and 103 willoperate together, or so nearly together that before the sounding devicehas had time to become tonally effective by reason of the operation ofthe motor 102 the power of the latter is augmented by the action ofmotor 103 and the note is thus sharply struck and a loud note produced.The slots b, 0 terminate together and so cut off their respective motors102, 103 simultaneously, the key can thus fly back quickly and produce amore or less staccato effect. In the second example represented by theslots cl and e in Fig. 1, the slot 6 will not bring about the operationof the motor 103 until some time after the commencement of operation ofthe motor 102, the key 105 will therefore have been appreciablydepressed by the time the power is augmented by the opration of themotor 103, thus the note will not be so forcibly struck and a softernote will be produced. The slots d and e terminate together and thus cutoff the motors 102 and 103 simultaneously, so that a more or lessstaccato effect is produced in this instance also. The slots 0 and phaving their forward ends abreast of one another will cause the motors102 and 103 to commence working simultaneously to produce a loud note,the slot 7) however terminates ahead of the slot 0 so that the motor 103will be cut off some time in advance of the motor 102 and the release ofthe key 105, being, under these circumstances, more gradual than in thetwo former examples, the note will be of a more or less legatocharacter. The perforation t commences far in arrear of the companionnote slot 8 and terminates some distance in advance thereof, theoperation of the motor 103 therefore is so late and of such shortduration that it may not be effec tive in augmenting or varying thepower applied to the key 105 and therefore the tone represented by thenote slot 8.

According to Fig. 4, a number of ports 129 and 130 are formed in thetracker cor responding respectively to the readers 107 and 108. The noteor tune slots in the rows marked 1 in Fig. 1 are adapted to registerwith the ports 129 to control the working of the motors 102, thecompanion or complementary slots in the rows marked II, Fig. 1, beingadapted to register with the ports 130 to control the working of themotors 103. The manner in which the operation of the respective motor isbrought about whenever a slot registers with a port and permits air toenter therethrough and is caused to cease when such slot passes awayfrom over this port, may be accomplished in any known manner.

In the case of the successive impulses transmitted through the medium ofthe perforations for operating the swells of organs, each of suchimpulses causes one of the series of five swell controlling motors 140,141, 142, 143 and 144 shown in Figs. 5 and 6, to vary the swell 145 to aparticular degree. In the example illustrated, the motors are ofgradually increasing size from the principal motor 140 to the last motor144 of the complementary motors 141, 142, 143, 144, and the swell 145 issupposed to be a simple sliding cover for a swell box. The cover issupported by rods 146 linked to an oscillatory frame 147 movable about ashaft 148. Each of the five pneumatics 140 to 144 has a sticker 149engaging by a pin 150 the front part of the frame 147. The pneumatics140 to 144 are shown as pressure or expansible bellows and may begoverned by the record shown in Fig. 2, which completes or breaks thecircuits of magnets 151 as described with reference to the magnets 111,112 Fig. 3. The magnets 151, when thus energized, raise their respectivevalves 152 from exhaust ports 153 and their respective pneumatics 154are then collapsed by the pressure within the chest 155. The pneumatics154 thus pull down flap valves 156 to which they are connected by cordsor wires 157. The valves 156 turn about the hinges 158, and compressedair is thus admitted from the chest 155 by way of the ports 159 to therespective pneumatics 140 to 144, to expand the lat ter until arrestedby their respective stops 160 and cause the swell box cover 145 todescend and uncover the opening 161 in the swell box. It will be easilyunderstood that the swell will be actuated according to the number andposition of the slots in the record governing the magnets 151; to giveonly three instances; if all five slots start abreast of one another, asoccurs with slots 2327 Fig. 2, the swell will open abruptly andcompletely, as the full power will be at once applied, but supposing allfive slots have their forward ends successively in arrear of each other,as occurs with the slots 1014 Fig. 2, then the opening of the swell willbe a more or less gradual one until the maximum is reached. It dependsupon the relative position of the forward ends of the slots whether ornot each motor coming into operation, will overlap the preceding one,and it is easy to see that the amount of overlapping determines thespeed of actuation. Further, supposing only three out of the five slotsare employed, and are arranged with their forward ends successively inarrear of one another, as occurs with the slots 15, 16, 17, then themotors 140, 141, and 142 only will operate successively, and the swell145 will only partially uncover the opening 161 at a greater or lessspeed depending upon the intervals between the coming into operation ofthe motors 140, 141, and 142. It will be readily understood moreoverthat if all of the motors be cut off simultaneously by the simultaneoustermination of the five companion slots, as occurs with the slots 10 to14 and 18 to 22 Fig. 2, the swell will be quickly closed, whereas if themotors be successively cut out by the companion slots terminating moreor less in advance of one another, as occurs with the slots 23 to 27 and23 to 32, the speed of the closing will be more or less slow. The swellmay of course be operated by two motors as described with reference toFig. 3; it will be seen however that with five motors a greater numberof gradations can be produced. If desired, a greater number than livecould be employed with equally good or better effect. It is thusapparent that a swell can be automatically operated in a mannerpractically identical with the manner in which the swell was operated bythe performer in the execution of the piece for the production of therecord.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 7, is similar to that hercinbeforedescribed with reference to Fig. 3, the only material difference beingthat the reproducer represented in Fig. 7 comprises three sets ofpneumatics 101, 102 and 103 and a corresponding number of sets ofsubsidiary chests 118 and controlling valves and circuits. Forcontrolling the apparatus shown in Fi 7 a tune sheet or band such asthat represented in Fig. 8, would be used, such sheet having for each ofthe keys 105 to be operated, three rows 1, II, III or IV, V, VI, ofperforations or slots; it is however believed that the operation of thisapparatus will be suiiiciently well understood from the foregoingdescription of Fig. 3, to render special description thereof unnecessary, it being explained that like reference numerals are used toindicate like or corresponding parts in Figs. 3 and 7.

I claim 1. A reproducer of a music record and complementary expressionrecord, compris- .ing in combination sound emitters, levers foractuating said sound emitters, a plurality of independently governedmotive power means operatively connected with each of the said levers, arecord reader correspond ing to each of said motive power means andoperative means controlled by said readers for putting said motive powermeans into and out of action independently of one another substantiallyas set forth.

A reproducer of a music record and complementary expression record,comprising in combination sound emitters, levers for actuating saidsound emitters, principal motive power means operatively connected witheach of said levers, complementary motive power means operativelyconnected with each of said levers, said means being operativeindependently of one another, a record reader corresponding to each ofsaid principal motive power means, a record reader corresponding to eachof said complementary motive power means, operative means controlled bysaid readers for putting said principal and complementary meansrespectively into and out of action independently of one another, saidcomplementary means, when not active during the operation of saidprincipal means, being operative to retard the action of said principalmeans, substantially as set forth.

3. A reproducer of a music record and complementary expression record,compris ing in combination sound emitters, levers for actuating saidsound emitters, principal motive power means operatively connected witheach of said levers, a plurality of complementary motive power meansoperatively connected with each of said levers, a. record readercorresponding to each of said principal motive power means, a recordreader corresponding to each of said complementary motive power means,and operative means controlled by said reader for putting said principaland said complementary means respectively into and out of action.independently of one another substantially as set forth.

A reproducer of a music record and complementary expression recordcomprising in combination sound emitters, levers for actuating saidsound emitters, principal motive power means operatively connected witheach of said levers, a plurality of complementary motive power meansoperatively connected with each of said levers, a record readercorresponding to each of said principal motive power means, a recordreader corresponding to each of said complementary motive power means,and operative means controlled by said readers for putting saidprincipal and said con'iplementary means into and out of action,independently, of one another, each of said complementary means when notactive during the operation of said principal means, being operative toretard the action of said principal means. substantially as set forth.

5. A. reproducer of a music record and complementary expression recordcomprising in combination sound emitters, levers for actuating saidsound emitters, principal motive power means operatively connected witheach of said levers, complementary motive power means of greatercapacity than said principal means operatively connected with each ofSaid levers, a record reader corresponding to each of said principalmotive power means. a record reader corresponding to each of saidcomplen'icntary motive power means, and operative means con trolled bysaid readers for putting said prin cipal and complementary meansrespectively into and out of action independently of one anothersubstantially as set forth.

6. A reproducer of a music record and complementaiy expression recordcomprising in combination sound emitters, l vers for actuating saidsound emitters, principal motive power means operatively connected witheach of said levers, a plurality of complementary motive-power meansoperatively connected with each of said levers, said complementarymotive power means constituting a series in which the dimensions of thesaid means gradually increase from one end of the series to the other, arecord reader In Witness whereof I have hereunto set correspondingtoeach of said motiveilpgwker my hand in the presence of two Witnesses.means an 0 erative means contro e y said readers f dr putting saidprincipal and JAMES JOHN WALKER complementary means respectively intoand VVit-nesses: out of action independently of one another MARGARET ANNHOsKINS, substantially as set forth. GEORGE HARRIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

